Ocean's Twelve: Review By slysnide

The sequel to the phenomenally successful predecessor actually continues the story rather than just reuniting the cast for another pointless caper. As now, two and a half years later, the money is just about all spent, and we discover that millions in stolen Vegas money hasn't gone as far as it used to, as almost all eleven crooks are in some sort of limbo, such as Rusty loosing his money in the hotel business. But when Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) tracks them down with the demand to repay him plus interest in 2 weeks or he'll have them killed, they're in an even bigger limbo which sends them to Europe where they intend to pull off a series of heists to equivocate & reclaim their losses.

Danny Ocean (George Clooney) is still with Tess (Julia Roberts), and is still the leader of the group with Robert Charles Ryan (Brad Pitt) as his right hand man, but without any major target like the Bellagio Job, he's even more nervous than before, as his determination seems deterred by the prospect of paying back the all around jackass who's known as Terry Benedict. Nevertheless, the 9 crooks are reintroduced in interesting ways as some are in better places than when we first met them, while others are in worse places, especially when greeted by Terry Benedict himself. As expected, the Malloy brothers Virgil (Casey Affleck) & Turk (Scott Caan) are still incompetent watchdogs, though are good comic relief while Basher Tarr (Don Cheadle) maintains the same cynical "it can't be done" attitude towards almost everything. Reuben Tishkoff (Elliot Gould) isn't too concerned since he has plenty of riches left to settle his debt with Benedict, though is of course able and willing to help the rest of the crew...pull of heists that is, but not fiscally. Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon) is still nervous and seemingly out of his league as a funny scene in Benedict's car shows, and if he tries to act smart, he just f*cks up. So basically, the same character traits from the last film are present here, though since this film doesn’t seem to be as much about capers as about character, they seem to get more screentime, and their quirky traits are showcased more.

On the other hand, Livingston Dell (Eddie Jemison) is still living with his parents and hasn't spent ANY of his share from the Bellagio Job, putting him in a better position than the other 9, as Reuben has no fiscal issues either. On the flipside of that, 22yr old Yen (Shaobo Qin) is living it up in Miami with a bunch of hot girls like any guy his age would want to be considering that he's 100% better off than in the circus where he was first discovered by Rusty & Danny.

Bernie Mac's Frank Catton however has a bizarre role in the film which sets him aside once again as in the last film, for he has very little screentime here, and isn't much of a comedian like he was in reality (RIP:1957-2008).

Saul Bloom (Carl Reiner) on the other hand figures that he's had a nice life, and doesn't mind the idea of possibly being picked off by Benedict, so he bows out of the trip to Europe, thus dramatically shortening his role in the film, until he attempts to show his colors in the climax.

Robbie Coltrane has a bit part as Matsui, an acquaintance of Danny & Rusty who's a theft organizer in Amsterdam that sets their sites on the oldest stock certificate in history-issued in 1602 by the Dutch East India Trading Company. This a particularly funny scene with the trio speaking complete gibberish while Linus attempts to 'save the deal' and stop being the useless bystander like he felt like in the first film.

The new main character however is a Europol Detective, Agent Isabel Lahiri (Catherine Zeta-Jones) whom was a former lover of Rusty, and is currently setting her sights on a brilliant thief that goes by the alias NightFox, and along the way, accidentally gets involved with Rusty's gang while investigating another NightFox heist. She of course attempts to cause problems for the crooks throughout the film, but only has ill intentions towards Rusty...whose previous relationship with her seems to cause all the group's unanticipated problems..

The subplot is a major one however, as when Danny's crew has near made off with the stock certificate, they're met by a onyx fox statuette with an audio taped message from the NightFox thief. Once contact is made, a competition is proposed to see who's the better thief, Danny's crew, or NightFox. His real name is Francois Toulour (Vincent Cassel), a rich Frenchman that only steals as a hobby, and is a real arrogant bragger that can't stand the idea of the Bellagio Job being considered the best heist ever when it was executed by eleven crooks, whereas he is only one, and a very well known thief at that. His character was intriguing, the best addition to the film, and enhanced the subplot to becoming better than the main plot, as it really hijacks the story that was once being told.

As last time, the acting is credited to the vast personalities of all the previously mentioned actors, but especially by the NightFox, and his mysterious mentor, predecessor, and all around master thief Gaspar LeMarc (Albert Finney). Plus a guest appeareance by Cherry Jones in a mystery role. But there are several running gags carried on from the first film, such as Frank Catton's love for pedicures, Rusty constantly eating food when he's not doing anything specific in a scene, and Yen's lack of English speaking unless it's a curse word, yet he understands everyone vice-versa, and also manages to get lost in luggage bags across Europe.

The visuals of the estate on the shores of Lake Como, the museum in Rome, the streets of Amsterdam, and Paris are all great, but not as stunning as the interior & exterior of the Vegas Strip, as it's not nearly as colorful as it was the first time around, and therefore didn't match the snazzy pizzazz of the cast, but they were still good..

The negative aspect of this film however is the fact that a large chunk of the film is NOT spent detailing the heists at hand since this film was more about character, the development of a few of them, and continuing a story with the simple and very well known code of thieves: Never rat anyone out. For "Honor Among Thieves" was the novel that this film drew upon for inspiration and adaptation as a sequel in the 'Ocean's' universe.

Overall, while most people don't like sequels to caper movies, and didn't really care for this one at all, I loved it for staying original by continuing the previous story, and showcasing the ensemble talent that the cast provides. So for me, twelve is definitely the new eleven.